RT Article
T1 Valour for money?: contested commodification in the market for security
JF The British journal of criminology
VO 58
IS 6
SP 1401
OP 1419
A1 Loader, Ian 1965-
A2 White, Adam 1981-
LA English
YR 2018
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1582423253
AB Scholars of security governance generally assume that the labour of private security officers can straightforwardly be transformed into discrete commodities. We argue, by contrast, that it is extremely difficult to commodify the labour of private security officers because their duties frequently require them to confront and work through both economic responsibilities (what does my contract say?) and moral obligations (what does my conscience say?). We substantiate this argument by exploring how heroic acts performed by private security officers—such as preventing suicide attempts, intervening in violent assaults and orchestrating hazardous evacuations—are celebrated through industry awards ceremonies. In so doing, we not only contribute towards the conceptualization of security goods as contested commodities but also facilitate a reappraisal of the market for security.
K1 Contested commodification
K1 Heroism
K1 Legitimation
K1 Moral econom
K1 Private security
DO /10.1093/bjc/azy004